KRB-16
Hauchecornite (Type Locale) on Millerite - 1884 find
Friedrich Mine, Schonstein, Siegerland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (TL)
Small Cabinet, 7.7 x 5.5 x 4.3 cm
Ex. Clarence Bement; American Museum of Natural History; Kay Robertson
SOLD
Hauchecornite is a rare, nickel-bismuth-antimony sulfide, and this excellent specimen is from the Type Locality. The main focus is a 5 mm, gray-bronze, metallic crystal of Hauchecornite set on a matrix composed of massive ore (perhaps with more Hauchecornite) laced with bright, brassy yellow, metallic needles of Millerite to 1 cm. A German classic, this small cab is originally out of the historically famous collection of Clarence Bement who would have bought it soon after it was found (1884, according to Kay's research on this particular find). His collection then became a huge core of the AMNH collection in New York City (see http://minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=139). Great provenance, between the Bement collection and Kay's modern day continuation of his love of all things German! Note that the original records from the museum show that Bement paid $4 for this in the 1880's, as it was his item #1404 in a collection of over 12,000 pieces started by the 1860s. That was a LOT of money at the time! He was a very dedicated collector, particularly to the rare species. An excerpt from the MR archive: During the late 1800's he spent more than $100,000 on minerals. In 1900 Bement sold this fabulous collection to the wealthy financier J. P. Morgan, who presented it to the American Museum of Natural History. The collection was so large, 12,500 specimens, that two railroad boxcars were needed to transport it from Philadelphia to New York. Bement died on January 27, 1923.